Up: Glassmaking
Reminiscences
19 of 123
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All writers agree that the glass-houses in
Alexandria, in Egypt, were highly celebrated for the
ingenuity and skill of their workmen, and the extent of their manufactures.
Strabo relates that the Emperor
Hadrian received from an Egyptian priest a
number of glass cups in mosaic, sparkling with every color, and deemed of
such rare value that they were used only on great festivals.
The tombs at Thebes, the ruins of
Pompeii, and Herculaneum, and the
remains of the villa of the Emperor Tiberius,
go not only incidentally to establish the antiquity of the art, but also
prove the exquisite taste and skill of the artists of their various periods.
The first glass-houses, well authenticated, were
erected in the city of Tyre. Modern
writers upon the subject generally refer to Pliny in establishing the fact
that the Phœnicians were the inventors of
the art of glass-making. The tradition is that the art was originally
brought to light under the following circumstances. A vessel being driven by
a storm to take shelter at the mouth of the river Belus,
the crew were obliged to remain there some length of time. In the process of
cooking, a fire was made upon the ground, whereon was abundance of the herb
"kale."
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